The textbook looks at the German federal state from the perspective of the Länder. It provides information on the development of the German Länder, analyzes their significance for democracy, the federal state and the rule of law, and introduces the central principles of politics in the Länder. It offers those interested in politics, teachers and students of political science, social science, law and the humanities a comprehensive as well as condensed overview of the German Länder. This book is a translation of the original German 1st edition, Die deutschen Länder by Werner Reutter, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2020. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL. com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.

This book provides a detailed introduction to how the Lander (the 16 states of Germany) function not only within the country itself but also within the wider context of European political affairs. Some knowledge of the role of the Lander is essential to an understanding of the political system as well as of German federalism. This book traces the origin of the Lander. It looks at their place in the constitutional order of the country and the political and administrative system. Their organization and administration are fully covered, as is their financing. Parties and elections in the Lander and the controversial roles of parliaments and deputies are also examined.

This open access book presents a topical, comprehensive and differentiated analysis of Germany’s public administration and reforms. It provides an overview on key elements of German public administration at the federal, Länder and local levels of government as well as on current reform activities of the public sector. It examines the key institutional features of German public administration; the changing relationships between public administration, society and the private sector; the administrative reforms at different levels of the federal system and numerous sectors; and new challenges and modernization approaches like digitalization, Open Government and Better Regulation. Each chapter offers a combination of descriptive information and problem-oriented analysis, presenting key topical issues in Germany which are relevant to an international readership.

In the aftermath of World War II, American policymakers turned to the task of rebuilding Europe while keeping communism at bay. In Germany, formally divided since 1949,the United States prioritized the political, economic, and, eventually, military integration of the fledgling Federal Republic with the West. The extraordinary success story of forging this alliance has dominated our historical under-standing of the American-German relationship. Largely left out of the grand narrative of U.S.–German relations were most East Germans who found themselves caught under Soviet and then communist control by the post-1945 geo-political fallout of the war that Nazi Germany had launched. They were the ones who most dearly paid the price for the country's division. This book writes the East Germans—both leadership and general populace—back into that history as objects of American policy and as historical agents in their own right Based on recently declassified documents from American, Russian, and German archives, this book demonstrates that U.S. efforts from 1945 to 1953 went beyond building a prosperous democracy in western Germany and "containing" Soviet-Communist power to the east. Under the Truman and then the Eisenhower administrations, American policy also included efforts to undermine and "roll back" Soviet and German communist control in the eastern part of the country. This story sheds light on a dark-er side to the American Cold War in Germany: propaganda, covert operations, economic pressure, and psychological warfare. Christian F. Ostermann takes an international history approach, capturing Soviet and East German responses and actions, and drawing a rich and complex picture of the early East–West confrontation in the heart of Europe.

This volume explains the national and regional border modifications that took place in Europe from 1870 to 2020. It provides insights that allow us to understand boundary changes for several different levels of territorial organization. The text describes the state formation process related to the regional-administrative structures in each European country, and offers insight into the degree of centralization historically by describing the extent of legislative autonomy at different administrative levels and the competences reserved for each of them. The book sheds light on the complex regional organization of Europe and the difficulties its reform has faced. The main audience will be academics and PhD/Masters students working in a variety of geography fields, and the maps included in each chapter will also be of interest to a broader audience including undergraduate and secondary-school students wishing to better understand the political history of Europe.

This book analyses the impact of Europeanization on domestic politics and the relationship between states and regions.

This book analyses the development of German territorial states in the nineteenth century through the prism of five Mittelstaaten: Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, Württemberg, and Baden. It asks how a state becomes a place, and argues that it involves a contested and multi-faceted process, one of slow and uneven progress. The study approaches this question from a new and crucial angle, that of spatiality and public mobility. The issues covered range from the geography of state apparatus, the aesthetics of German cartography and the trajectories of public movement. Challenging the belief that territorial delimitation is primarily a matter of policy and diplomacy, this book reveals that political territories are constructed through daily practices and imagination.